Border Patrol Agent Arrested in Texas on Suspicion of Being a Serial Killer

A patch on the uniform of a U.S. Border Patrol agent at a highway checkpoint on August 1, 2018 in West Enfield, Maine.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested Saturday in Texas on suspicion that he killed four women and prosecutors are describing him as a serial killer. The agent, Juan David Ortiz, is a supervisor for the Border Patrol. He fled into a hotel parking lot in Laredo, Texas after he fled from state troopers but was located and arrested early Saturday morning.

“The county, the city can rest assured we have the serial killer in custody,” said Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar. Journalist Valerie Gonzalez wrote on Twitter that Ortiz “confessed to all four homicides.” She later posted a statement from the Webb Conty Sheriff’s Office that describes Ortiz as a 10-year Border Patrol veteran.

Update: Juan David Ortiz confessed to all four homicides. He is a nine-year veteran of Border Patrol, according to Webb County DA. Still waiting on statement from BP.

This would be the second homicide investigation in Webb involving a border patrol agent from the Laredo sector. pic.twitter.com/3digC0mmq2

Although most say all four of the victims were women, CNN reports that “the bodies of three females and one male were found over the last two weeks.”

Authorities say they have “very strong evidence” that Ortiz was the one who killed four prostitutes and he is believed to have acted alone. Authorities were able to locate Ortiz after a fifth woman apparently managed to escape and notify law enforcement officers.

The county’s district attorney, Isidro Alaniz, said Ortiz will be charged with four counts of murder and one count of aggravated kidnapping. The motives for the suspected killings are not clear.

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